AI Criticizes Germany, EU

Barbara Lochbihler, secretary general of the German branch of Amnesty International, said on Friday she was disappointed with the German government for its lack of initiative in the realm of human rights.

"We must recognize the fact that there is no end to human rights violations in sight," Lochbihler said. "The US Congress recently passed a bill that again introduces military courts which should clearly operate below international legal standards. The bill also allows interrogation methods that should be clearly labeled as torture."

Germany will assume the presidency over the European Union on Jan. 1. It has so far made no indications that it plans to focus on human rights during the six months it will be charged with conducting the EU's business.

For Amnesty International, this is a problem -- especially in view of the human rights violations that have been taking place under the umbrella of the fight against terror.

No sign of closure

A thorn in the eye of many human rights organizations is the US-run prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Controversial since its establishment, the camp has some 500 inmates, most of whom have never been charged. EU lawmakers and civil rights campaigners have for a long time called on US officials to close the facility.

"In Guantanamo, new buildings are being built, for example for these military courts. There is no sign that it's going to get closed," Lochbihler said.

The role of Germany's government officials and intelligence services in the fight against terror must, according to Amnesty International, be clarified. Especially, in those cases, in which there are indications that human rights violations may have been planned on German soil -- in the US Army European headquarters in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, for example.

"It is also not clear what the government knew about the abduction of Mr. el Masri," Lochbihler said.

Who knew what?

In 2003, the CIA abducted German national Khaled el Masri in Macedonia and flew him to Afghanistan where he was detained for five months as a terror suspect and allegedly mistreated. US officials acknowledged to the German government in 2004 that the man had been mistaken for somebody else and had been wrongly detained.

A German parliamentary committee has been investigating Berlin's role during the Iraq war, the CIA's kidnapping of el Masri as well as the CIA's secret flights and detention centers.

Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and his successor Frank-Walter Steinmeier are expected to testify before the committee on Dec. 14.

"I expect the government to take concrete measures that such abductions never take place again," Lochbihler said. "And to give clear instructions to intelligence services that nobody should use or participate in torture."

Amnesty International has announced it will present a memorandum on Germany's EU presidency on Jan. 11.